Pete Peterson: `I Fully Intend' To Run

TALLAHASSEE -- Pete Peterson, former U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, plans to seek the Democratic nomination for governor despite a long shadow cast over the contest by the wandering Janet Reno.

"I fully intend to get in the race,'' Peterson said Tuesday. "I have concluded that the people of Florida want an option. They want a change, or at least the opportunity to look at it.''

U.S. Rep. Jim Davis of Tampa is expected to announce his candidacy soon after Labor Day, boosting to five the ranks of Florida Democrats ready to weigh their fortunes in a likely competition with Reno, the former U.S. attorney general.

As so many Democrats line up to run against Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, Reno is entering the fourth month of a personal odyssey that, in the end, could define the whole contest. Reno, who announced she was thinking of running for governor in May, promises that her odyssey in a red Ford pickup will end "sometime in September.''

The Miamian could easily claim the nomination, according to opinion polls, which also suggest that Reno faces rougher going against Bush.

The crowd of candidates is hoping that Reno will decide against running or that -- when Florida's Democrats choose a nominee -- one will rise to Reno's challenge.

"Attorney General Reno has lifted this race to a new dimension,'' says Mitchell Berger, a Fort Lauderdale attorney and leading Democratic fund raiser.

"She has convinced Democrats that there is a real possibility of victory,'' Berger says. "We have a lot of people looking at the race, in large part because she was bold enough to consider it.''

VFW HONORS PETERSON

Peterson, who returned from Vietnam this summer after four years as ambassador and lived as a prisoner of war for 61/2 years, sees a year as an eternity in Florida politics. It's long enough, the veteran Air Force pilot and former congressman from Marianna thinks, to build a winning campaign.

Reno's course, he says, has no bearing on his own.

"She is a fantastic public servant, but what she does is not having an impact on my decision,'' he said. "My trips to South Florida have given me some confidence that we can make inroads there, and I certainly am going to have to work on that. She could very well decide to run. If she does, that just livens up the campaign.''

For now, much of the campaign focuses on Central Florida, the swing-voting key to unseating Bush.

Peterson plans to campaign in Orlando next week. Today, he is to fly to Milwaukee for a convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which is honoring the former fighter pilot shot down in 1966 after 66 missions over Vietnam. He will accept one of the VFW's highest honors, a Gold Medal of Merit.

ANOTHER VIETNAM VETERAN

Another decorated Vietnam veteran, ex-Marine infantry commander Bill McBride, will campaign in Orlando today. McBride, who stepped down as managing partner of Florida's largest law firm to run for governor, will appear at a reception at the Orlando home of Orange County Democratic Party Chairman Doug Head.

"I really think Bill has the best chance of going all the way if he can win the nomination,'' says Richard Swann, an Orlando attorney backing McBride. "He's got everything the Democrats want. He's been progressive in his business life. But he also has access to the business community, which means he can strike at the heart of the Republican Party.''

Davis, whose water-testing will take him to Orlando on Thursday, has appeared most reticent. He has a safe seat in Congress and is little-known statewide.

"He has never shied away from a race based on who is or is not in it,'' said Brian Edwards, a campaign consultant who notes that Davis first won election in a four-way race against a popular mayor and other politicians well-known at home.

Two other Democrats are committed to running regardless of Reno's move: state Sen. Daryl Jones of Miami, an Air Force reservist and former fighter pilot, and state Rep. Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach, who likes to mention frequently, in the context of this campaign, that her son is a Marine.